The Saab story.

[Dino Scuderia]

Not looking too good.



Thu Apr 7, 2011 12:54pm EDT

* Saab owes tens of millions of crowns to suppliers

* Production of cars suspended for third day this week

* Saab hopes to restart production early next week

* Spyker has said sees no collapse

(Adds Saab comment)

By Johan Ahlander

TROLLHATTAN, Sweden, April 7 (Reuters) - Swedish carmaker Saab scrambled to resolve a crisis over tens of millions of crowns in unpaid bills on Thursday as a production halt ran into a third day.

Dutch owner Spyker (SPYKR.AS) held talks with parts suppliers whose invoices it has failed to pay while newspaper Dagens Nyheter headlined its coverage: "Desperate hunt for money".

Saab spokeswoman Gunilla Gustavs said the carmaker is working intensively to get supplies moving again.

"We're expecting that we could resume normal production early next week," she said. "A lot of work is going into strengthening the financial position of the company."

Spyker, which bought loss-making Saab from General Motors (GM.N) last year, says the company is not facing collapse but a short-term liquidity crunch.

Spyker chief executive Victor Muller and Saab chief Jan-Ake Jonsson both declined to comment to Reuters on progress to sort out payments when questioned outside the plant.

"I do not know how much it (the amount owed) is in total, but we are talking about tens of millions (of crowns)," Svenake Berglie, chief executive of the FKG suppliers' organisation, told Reuters.

Andreas Ljungberg, Director of Commercial Vehicles at International Automotive Components Group (IAC), which supplies dashboards and other components, said IAC was closely watching cash flow to assess future deliveries.

"Obviously, we have outstanding payments to the degree where we cannot increase our exposure further," he added.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...73612520110407

[aiasib]

Everytime I hear an exec say 'Saab is not on the verge of collapse' I think to myself: 'Saab must be on the verge of collapse'.

Now will they let Antonov invest? Or will the Saab brand bite the dust?

[Ferrer]

In the credit crisis and with interest set to go up, this doesn't look good.

I hope people don't stop buying Saabs, because if they do it could be the end.

[LeonOfTheDead]

I've had the chance to check the new 9-5 on multiple occasions, and it is a great solid car. It's a bit too... boring interior wise, I was expecting something more like a spaceship. They were all fitted with gray/black interiors, so maybe that's the reason.
It's expensive, still way less than the Germans. Not sure if it's enough to distract buyers from the XF or even the new Thema, given those who'd buy a German car wouldn't even bother with these.
It's sort of like the S80. Great car, just too understated, possibly.

[Commodore GS/E]

The poblem of Saab:
1. GM ruined their reputation with idiotic cars that didn't fit into Saab's lineup (like the Saabaru).
2. Their cars aren't for the performance crowd.
3. They aren't for the showing-off crowd either.
4. They are too expensive to compete with the average fleet cars.

Some of these ponts may surely be bs from an enthusiasts point of view, but they simply stop certain people from buying Saabs. Basically, the only people that would buy one now would be the few Saab enthusiasts that are left.
I think their problems could be solved with smaller more affordable cars, but it's not certain if they will even survive long enough to produce them.

Edit: Forgot to add that Saab never had a fanbase that could be compared to (for example) Alfa's or BMW's which could be a problem,too.

[LeonOfTheDead]

Alfa has a large fanbase, and it's still not enough to deliver only fan-cars.

Volvo tried to produce more smaller cars, like the C30, S40 and V50, but I guess that was much easier with the Focus as a proven base architecture.
Was it enough? Not so sure.

Saab could do something similar, but I guess there just isn't space for it atm.
The 9-4X came too late, the 9-2X was pointless and the 9-7X anachronistic.
The previous 9-5 was as old as my house with a less than inspiring facelift, and the new 9-5 took too much to land on dealer's floors.

They need a new mini like the MiTo or Mini itself, and a new 9-3. Now, or even earlier, like yesterday.

[Ferrer]

Originally Posted by Commodore GS/E

The poblem of Saab:
1. GM ruined their reputation with idiotic cars that didn't fit into Saab's lineup (like the Saabaru).
2. Their cars aren't for the performance crowd.
3. They aren't for the showing-off crowd either.
4. They are too expensive to compete with the average fleet cars.

Some of these ponts may surely be bs from an enthusiasts point of view, but they simply stop certain people from buying Saabs. Basically, the only people that would buy one now would be the few Saab enthusiasts that are left.
I think their problems could be solved with smaller more affordable cars, but it's not certain if they will even survive long enough to produce them.

Edit: Forgot to add that Saab never had a fanbase that could be compared to (for example) Alfa's or BMW's which could be a problem,too.

It's the premium thing.

Also these days you need to sell a million just to break eve.

Originally Posted by LeonOfTheDead

Alfa has a large fanbase, and it's still not enough to deliver only fan-cars.

Alfa Romeo are three lunatics supporting the brand. And one of them is the CEO.

[LeonOfTheDead]

Make them four.
Five with my father.

[Commodore GS/E]

The problem isn't the fanbase, it's the financial situation of that fanbase .

[Ferrer]

Lunatics don't earn much money, as it turns out.

[LeonOfTheDead]

Given their power to weight ratio (or just plain power), I couldn't have bought any of them, except some older 145/146 1.3 liters maybe.
I found a couple of good deals on a 147 and a 156, with the 1.6 liter engine. Too powerful.

[clutch-monkey]

whichever saab it was that was a WRX wagon underneath, i would have loved. all the practicality of the subaru, without looking like a tosspot.

[LeonOfTheDead]

Saab 9-2X. As far as I can remember, it had an horrible steering.

[clutch-monkey]

what as in the usual subaru understeer or did they add something in?

[Commodore GS/E]

Originally Posted by clutch-monkey

what as in the usual subaru understeer or did they add something in?

GM softened the Subaru down. I think that says it all.